Site admin and all around zesty fellow. Although an esteemed lemon, "Addy" is discouraged from participating in Staff vs. Community events due to having a K/D ratio lower than Halo 4's active population.

Fun Fact: it's been a whopping 589 days since the last major site update. But after over a week of downtime HaloCustoms is back with a fresh lick of paint and an array of QOL updates, just in time for E3 2018!

This ongoing upgrade (which is about 80% complete) is a complete and total overhaul of the site. My goal here is try and incorporate all the things that have made HC great over the years like a greatest hits album of sorts.

So let's break down some of the changes;

Media Stream​

As well as being the home page; rather than just being a place new articles go to disappear into relative obscurity, the Media Stream is now a fully featured blog with all 522 posts categorised lovingly by hand. The option to filter media stream posts by author will also be available soon. Categories and Authors also get their own featured slider for their respective...

A month into the release of Forza Horizon 3 (A fun open world driving game set in Australia with a selection of included Halo themed content) is the first Halo themed community event. The Halo Weekender #Forzathon.

If you don't know much about the game or if you want to find out more about our car club, you can do so here.

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This weekend event gives users the chance to earn 3 alternate Halo themed horns in game, as well as the chance to add another Warthog to your garage. Puma Power!

This event is live now until 9PM(EST) on Sunday 30th and contains the following challenges/rewards:

As you can see, completing these challenges also give you exclusive commemorative achievements. They're worth zero gamerscore but are still...

Not so long ago, we proposed to you the beginning of a bright new future of HaloCustoms with exclusive Xbox sign in. You can read more about this change here.

For those of you that aren't currently signed in and are an existing member of HaloCustoms, here's a quick reminder/tutorial on how to easily migrate your legacy account:

Step 1: Select the option to sign in with Xbox Live. An example of this button as it currently stands can be found below (there will also be a replacement for the current Login/Sign Up options on the top bar if this change goes ahead).

A few weeks ago on September 27th, the latest iteration of the Forza Horizon series launched worldwide on both Xbox One and Windows 10. Complete with cross-platform multiplayer. Following in the footsteps of the GTA Crew back on 360 and the Minecraft server; Forza Horizon 3 is the next non-Halo title to have an official HC presence.

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"But why a car game?", I hear many of you cry... Well it just so happens that this particular car game lets you race Warthogs across the Outback and beyond in a digital representation of Australia. Frankly, this really is as fun as it sounds.

After unlocking and upgrading your third festival site in the game, you gain access to a feature called "Clubs". On the surface these look to operate like many other clan-esque systems out there like the Halo 5 Spartan Company, for example.

Update: I'm proud to announce that after the week-long poll, 81.8% of those that voted to share our ongoing vision for the future of HaloCustoms. I'll keep you posted on when these changes will take place along with a fairly substantial site update which is on track for next week.

For those enquiring about the inner workings of this new integration, I wanted to mention that we have been working on this functionality behind the scenes since November 2015 along with a roadmap of changes to the site which we hope you'll enjoy.

All the "Xbox" related features available now and into the future have been built from the ground up, specifically for HaloCustoms. This functionality is very much myself and TACTICS' digital baby and we're both very proud of what we have achieved and plan to in the future. For those simply interested in the API level of things we simply can't disclose anything of that nature due to a...

If you haven't guessed it, the Warzone Firefight update is now live and is a rather hefty one sitting at about 7GB. Also for those of you with friends that don't own the game yet, get them to download Halo 5 for free! From today through to July 5th. Details on the contents of this update and information on the "Free Play Days" can be found in an in depth post I made on the matter. This also includes the full REQ list for this update.

On June 28th we were also treated to an exclusive look into new features added to Halo 5's forge in this update, as well as a look at everything else included in the update. You can find the official recording of the stream in it's entirety below...

This week is a good week for fans of the Mass Effect series. Not so great for everyone else though.

Over on Xbox One there really isn't much to recommend other than Titanfall Deluxe Edition at 75% off. The game is still pretty fun and it's cloud based online play is frankly buttery smooth. Personally if you're interested in this title, I would still wholeheartedly recommend considering investing in an EA access subscription in it's place. Seeing how it is one of the titles included in "The Vault".

Over on Xbox 360 Titanfall is also on sale. The main attraction however is the fact that all premium DLC for Mass Effect 2/3 is currently 50% off. If you're a fan of the series and are missing any of these paid expansions, now might be the time to buy.

In two days time, the largest update since the December update which bestowed forge upon us all will be available. Over the course of the weekend multiple official posts have gone out detailing what's included in the update along with the announcement of a week-long promotion to attract new players.

Cutting to the chase here. According to this post on the official Xbox news portal, you can find the following content included in the Warzone Firefight update;

New Game Mode – Warzone Firefight: Warzone Firefight is, by far, the biggest content release since the launch of Halo 5: Guardians! As a result of the beta in April, 343 Industries has taken player feedback to improve the game mode for...

In the week following E3, we have some more fairly unremarkable discounts across both platforms.

Once again the main recommendation this week is more free content with another Battlefield 4 DLC pack; Battlefield 4 Second Assault. This one is available on both platforms but I'd like to assume that most of you by now would be interested in the Xbox One version of this content.

On Xbox 360 this week I'd recommend the Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection at 50% Off. Providing all the DLC content for a recent games with gold title at one low price. If I remember correctly their's some pretty fun single player content that adds a stealthy segment to the campaign. This...

One could call this the Deals with Gold E3 edition, but Xbox One this week features many of the usual suspects.

Following the announcement of Forza Horizon 3, this week primarily proves to be a sale across Xbox One iterations of the series. My recommendation sits with Limbo this week, which is 100% off. As it's a very atmospheric platformer focusing very much on trial and error. Also who doesn't like free stuff?

Over on Xbox 360 is what only can be described as a complete and utter tease. With 3 titles that many will be itching to play on Backwards Compatibility, being slashed in price. Front and centre with these discounts is...

Greetings one and all to this recap of this year's Xbox E3 Briefing. If you'd rather watch the entire event you can watch it on demand here. Otherwise, read on!

This year's E3 began on a sombre note, fortunately though that didn't last.

Microsoft were straight in for the kill with the recently leaked Xbox One S. 40% Smaller with an integrated PSU, HDR, internal storage up to 2tb, an updated controller and has the ability to be vertically mounted. Exciting stuff for those of us with limited space. Releases in August, starting from $299.

Next up we had some Gears of War 4. but before getting into the gory details, cross play was announced both in matchmaking and ownership of the game. Exciting stuff. This new initiative is called "Xbox Play Anywhere". Buy it once and play both on Xbox...

Looks like we're in for another dry spell folks! This week's deals were released a little later than usual, so I didn't have time to get them out to you yesterday as planned. As it happens though, you're not missing much.

So yes, Grand Theft Auto V and Battleborn are both 35% Off on Xbox One. However those interested in the former likely already own it by now and those interested in the latter are probably eyeing up or even playing Overwatch instead.

Greetings one and all, for it is that slightly overdue time to cover this week's Deals with Gold!

There is quite a lot on offer this week on both systems making it quite difficult to make a fair recommendation.

Over on Xbox One there seems to be a focus on indie titles. The best value of which is OlliOlli, a hard as nails 2D arcade skateboarding game at 80% off. I've played it on PC and it's pretty fun.

Over on Xbox 360 is what Microsoft is branding the "Super Sale". There is a selection backwards compatible titles on offer as well as other popular titles. I mark content that is backwards compatible with and titles that have been confirmed to become backwards compatible but are not yet available will be marked with a humble .

As per the usual, all of this week's deals for both systems can be found below...

Over on Xbox One this week Just Cause 3 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can both be picked up for 50% Off. Both of which being AAA titles from the end of last year that you may not have gotten around to playing yet. It's also worth noting that Battlefield 4 Final Stand is free this week to add to your Battlefield DLC collection.

All good things must come to an end. Compared to the last 2 weeks of sale items, it's truly slim pickings.

On Xbox One the highlight here is Elite Dangerous Standard Edition at 50% off. From what I hear it's one of the best 'space combat' games out there right now. It's known for being a stellar VR game on PC, but there's no reason it can't be an enjoyable experience on the Xbox One also.

Over on Xbox 360, this week's sale is looking a bit fishy... My recommendation lies simply with the GRID 2 All-In Pack at 50% off. This is certainly a situational recommendation however. If you've been playing Grid 2 recently to your own enjoyment via Games with Gold, buy this to make it the...

Huzzah, finally a week of content on sale that isn't complete and utter tripe.

Over on Xbox One the highlights this week are Alien: Isolation at 60% off and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate at 45%. The former is certainly the better deal here and that game is also to a much higher critical acclaim but in all honesty, it could be "2 Spoopy 4 U". So rather than a single recommendation this week, feel free to pick your poison.

On Xbox 360 this week my recommendation rests on the shoulders of Stalking Simulator 2007...

A day late again? Well I assure you that you won't be a dollar short this week.

Once again we are faced with disappointment as the lacklustre savings persist. On Xbox 360 this week there's no Back Compat content on sale and not really anything that screams "BUY ME", unless you are a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of course.

All joking aside though, if you are of the gambling sort and fancy putting on your tin foil hat this week, I guess I could recommend Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix at 75% off. Due to being a cult icon and requiring little resources to run, it's an ideal candidate for future Backwards Compatibility support.